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Ancient Fortifications of the Tamil Country as Recorded in Eighteenth-Century French Plans.

Author:

Jean Deloche

Publisher:

Institut Français de Pondichéry / Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient

Year:2013

Pages:

viii, 139 p. incl. ill.

Series:

Collection Indologie n°120

Language:

English

ISBN:

978-81-8470-193-7

Price:

700 Rs (30 €)

Remarks:---

About the book

Today, very few Indians know that, in the eighteenth century, the southern part of the peninsula was richly studded with fortifications, great and small, as most of them were dismantled by the British at the beginning of the nineteenth century. These strongholds, some of which had considerable administrative or political importance, were once crowded with large bodies of troops and resounded to the blaring noise of the guns; now they are completely abandoned and silent. In addition to this, temples, edifices dedicated to the service of gods, were also used as forts, though no vestiges of military structures are found around their enclosures today. Fortunately, eighteenth-century French engineers have drawn the plans of several of these defence works. These magnificent watercolour plans preserved in the French Archives are presented here: they illustrate in an extraordinarily precise and explicit manner the technological level of the South Indian fortifications and enable us to comprehend the role they played in the life of the Tamil Country.

Keywords

French plans, Tamilnadu, Forts, Fortified temples

About the author

Jean Deloche, former head of the Centre for History and Archaeology, Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient in Pondicherry, has devoted his entire academic career to the study of Indian History. He is presently a senior associate member of the Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient and of the Institut Français de Pondichéry. He has written numerous books and articles, among which Origins of the Urban Development of Pondicherry according to Seventeenth-Century Dutch Plans (2004), Senji (Gingi) A Fortified City in the Tamil Country (2005), Studies on Fortification in India (2007), Adventures of Jean-Baptiste Chevalier in Eastern India (2008), Four Forts of the Deccan (2009), Pierre Sonnerat, Nouveau Voyage aux Indes orientales (1786-1813) (2010), A Study in Nayaka-Period Social Life: Tiruppudaimarudur Paintings and Carvings (2011).